Here is my 1970 Mazda Familia sedan. I sold my Rx4 Luce last year and was looking for a tidy Mazda 1300. I imported this little beauty from Aichi Japan last year. It has factory plastics on seats, sunvisors, and door trims, 43,000 original ks and drives like new.

It has some rust in the passengers door which I have a new (mazda) nos doorskin for and some minor rust around the battery tray and the bonnet skin is lifting where its glued but besides that its in very good condition. I'm putting funds aside to do the body repairs. In the meantime I can't help but take it for a drive every sunny Sunday

The old '73 Luce

The '70 Mazda 1000 Sedan

Last edited by avenge on Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:50 pm, edited 4 times in total.

That is just amazing! time warp car, now no silly rotary engines please!!

_________________Too many Mazda's in the collection. 4 Mitsubishi's, 6 Toyota's and now 3 Datsun's as well.
Putting together a Mazda/Japanese motor museum. New bigger venue for the museum has been bought, watch this space!

It has been awhile so thought time to provide an update to keep me motivated.

As I saw it on the docks in Japan before it was shipped.

A shot with some more 1300/1200 owners in New Zealand

After getting it mechanically sorted (new brakes, new radiator, new suspension bushes, new wheel studs etc)- did some research on the car with Mazda's assistance and to correct my thread - discovered it's a Mazda 1000 I always wondered what its SPC chassis prefix was. Pretty stoked because Mazda 1000s are a bit rarer than 1300s :icon_wink:

Here is another pic with oldmaz before I pulled it off the road. You can see the bonnet skin lifting in the pic - unfortunately the bonnet was quite badly damaged due to customs attempting to open the bonnet from the front when like (early rx) opens from the rear.

Day I dropped it to the panel beater - worst part was stripping the interior and making sure I didn't damage the door cards :icon_eek:

Doors off

New doorskins being fitted

Rear quarters - there was a couple of rust pin holes rather than risk working with rusty panels - replaced this entire section

Car back home after having all the panels, doors and guards re gapped and adjusted

Car apart from front doors was in good nick - had the entire underside stripped and undersealed to stop any future rust issues.

After going over the car the overall condition is good enough to give the rest of the body a scuff before it goes in for 2k respray - in its factory white.

Hope to have the car vinned and legally rolling by Christmas- then off to the suspension shop to get it lowered 4inches all round :icon_cool:

Wheels were a hard one for me - I am not real sold on these old jap wheels everyone is using so I chucked some old NZ made 15" motoform alloys on it with 195/45/15 tyres - I had the alloys stripped and had them painted up in HSV cherry black - should look alright when they are tucked in the guards, otherwise I will just run my charcoal factory rims and whitewalls

Back from painters and starting reassembly - I am really happy after having all the panel gaps done the doors open and click close like a 500SL mercedes

This is kind of what I'm basing my build on (before this car got tubbed!)

Off for rego this week - have a friend coming over to take some good pics when its all legal

Keen to see what it looks like slammed on those 15's......I hope the rest is staying original though as it's so clean! I also hope your customs people covered some of the cost of your body work for rooting up your bonnet!?!?!

Keen to see what it looks like slammed on those 15's......I hope the rest is staying original though as it's so clean! I also hope your customs people covered some of the cost of your body work for rooting up your bonnet!?!?!

Cheers will post up pics once its been slammed. Yeah not changing anything else at this stage - although a rotary conversion is on the cars down the track maybe. Haha I wish customs covered the costs - but those guys are very good at denying liability!

So what are you planning on doing to get it 4in down all round? My wagon is lowered about 3in or maybe a little more all round, but I'd like it a bit lower at the front(and maybe the rear too), so I'll be interested to know what you do as I imagine we have the same strut/drum front setup?

Nice car mate. VTNZ can be quite picky when it comes to ride heights as you probably know! What engine will you go for? In Auckland they are coming down pretty hard on loud Rotas so most people seem to be going for mild/tall port 13b's or 12a's if you want to go bridgie.Does seem like a shame to Rota it though..

Yeah I am going for vin first then the lowering - although measuring up a 4 inch drop I should still be 100mm off the ground which avoids the need for the low volume cert at this stage. At the moment I am quite happy to cruise with the piston engine - the rotary conversion on this would be quite a big undertaking because basically the whole car's driveline would need to be upgraded (diff, brakes, driveshaft etc) so I don't think it will be happening in the short term - I was thinking I would go with a nice 13b Stage 2 and 48mm ida Weber - although I also like the look of those racing beat frisbee air cleaners so may even just run a 4barrell.

Too bad of those black modern wheels, sorry... oldies like that should stay original in my opinion

Thanks for the feedback - I have had a few negative comments on the wheels so in the short term I going back to the original wheels and selling those black wheels off.

I am looking at getting these japanese work equip wheels (I can get them filled and sleeved for the 4x110 stud / bold pattern) - what do you guys reckon?

In terms of getting it on the road - the VIN shop failed it on the ball joints and steering drop arm - so waiting on those parts to get refurbished and then can fit them back in the car. Revised timeframe for back on the road is now the 20th of January

I am displaying the car (hopefully) at the 4 and rotary nationals here in NZ on the 28th of January - so no time to get it lowered now.

In terms of getting it on the road - the VIN shop failed it on the ball joints and steering drop arm - so waiting on those parts to get refurbished and then can fit them back in the car. Revised timeframe for back on the road is now the 20th of January

I am displaying the car (hopefully) at the 4 and rotary nationals here in NZ on the 28th of January - so no time to get it lowered now.

Cool, I'll be at the rotnats on Sunday so will come and take a closer look then..